Saturday, July 18, 2015

Saturday is an incredible day for beer in ATL!

Decatur’s Three Taverns is throwing down for
their second birthday, it’s Lincoln Station’s First Anniversary Beer Festival, and
the Great Southern Craft Beer Competition Finalist Party goes down at Red
Brick! What, what?!

Whaddup!!!

Just getting off the
plane from my awesome trip to New York to get interviewed on Heritage Radio’s
Beer Sessions hereand appearing on WNYCs Craft Beer Jams Web show here, I was welcomed to some killer
events going on today in ATL based on the world’s greatest libation, beer. This action-packed, craft sippin’
rain-free day has three standouts:

the beloved Three Taverns is celebrating their
second birthday from 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. at their brewery here.

With all the info below including the amazing beer lists, you better make at least one of these unless you are
at Wicked Weed's Funk Ashevillein North Carolina or somethin'. (I have my new Cruisin’ For A Brewsin’ affiliate and brewing partner Jon Shari covering
that for me.) I will hold it down in the A.

Oh, and super happy
birthday to my brother Lamont. He couldn’t have picked a better day to kick it
with me. Sip safely everyone and celebrate like it’s yours too!

Cheers!

Ale

Three Taverns hits numero dos!

I have been covering
Three Taverns since day one, and they have been blessing Georgia with their
awesome, award-winning Belgian-inspired beers in bottles, on draft, at the
brewery and in growlers resulting in numerous awards and accolades for the past
two years. Well below is the GANGSTER beer list they are featuring today
including the debut of their first sour—the Inceptus—from their Georgia wild series, and the anniversary beer—Anniversarium II—an 8.5% rye tripel!
With more than 16 year-rounds, seasonals, limited releases, two inaugurals and
a cask on tap including my fave, the Departed
Spirit. I hope I see you there!

A
Night On Ponce IPA dry hopped in cask with Citra, Galaxy and Amarillo

The story of the Inceptus:
Three Taverns’ first Georgia Wild Ale

It
was a 2013 winter’s day that brought Atlanta to a standstill, leaving cars parked
on highways for days, closing businesses and making national headlines. But
with Joran Van Ginderachter, a foot-powered Belgian, as brewmaster, Three
Taverns remained open for a scheduled brew day as the entire region took a
weather-enforced holiday.

As
it happened, Joran walked into the brewery that day with an ear-to-ear grin.
The crisp, frigid air, he announced, was clean and healthy. In sum, perfect
conditions for open fermentation, a process by which wild yeast is “caught”
from the air instead of cultivated.

So
the brewers transferred wort into a mini-fermenter and placed it outside,
exposed to the air. Over the next few days they observed the signs of
spontaneous fermentation and were rewarded with a wild yeast strain that
literally arrived with the wind.

After
primary fermentation they transferred the wort into an oak barrel for maturing.
After many months of aging, in keeping with wild beer traditions of Belgium,
the first Three Taverns sour beer emerged. Next, the brewers began replicating
the fermentation and maturing process in more North Georgian wine barrels with
their unique, wild-caught yeast strain.

The
result is Inceptus, (Latin for “beginning”), a wild ale of remarkable
complexity. It is both the brewery’s first sour-ale offering, and the “first
born” of an emerging series of wild ales—based on the unique yeast strain the
crisp winter air delivered us back in 2013.

Lincoln
Station’s First Anniversary Beer Festival

2280 Henry
Clower Boulevard

Snellville,
GA 30078; 3 to 11 p.m.

I
truly have love for owners Tiny, Brad and the rest of the Lincoln Crew, and
after spending just a few seconds with them, you will too! If you can find a
way to Snellville or happen to live out there, DO NOT miss this one! This
list is ridiculously dope! The length of time to drink them is pretty damn
gracious too! Besides the beer menu below, go here
for more info on other attractions. Congrats Lincoln!

I
judged this joint along with Publik Draft House Owner Eddie Johnson, Hey Brewtiful!’s Jess, veteran beer scribe
Bob Townsend, and Red Brick to pick the finalists from this annual homebrew
competition. Now it’s your turn to pick between the last two standing! Congrats Zachary Owen and Alan Pugh for making it
through!

They say: The Great Southern Craft
Beer Competition finalist event will take place on Saturday, July 18 from 11:00
a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at Red Brick Brewing. The party will feature brewery
tours and pours, P.D.H. food pairings, a people’s choice blind taste test of
the competition finalists’ beers and more.

“We’ve
made this year’s Great Southern Craft Beer Competition more unique by assigning
part of the winner selection process to the Atlanta community,” says P.D.H.
co-owner Eddie Johnson. “Anyone who attends the event can take the blind taste
test of brews and choose their favorite.”

In
addition to the opportunity to participate in the blind taste test,
ticketholders will receive a souvenir pint glass and complimentary tours of Red
Brick Brewing along with tastings of the brewery’s beers, including Hoplanta
American IPA and Laughing Skull American amber ale. Attendees can also sample
beer-based food pairings from P.D.H. and play a raffle to win prizes such as
Uber gift cards, tickets for Great Southern Beer Tours and more. This year’s
finalists are Zachary Owen and Alan Pugh. Tickets are available for $10.00 and
can be purchased at the door.

About Me

Originally from New York and a Cornell University alumnus, I'm anentrepreneur, award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and beer expert who has worked with various publications and websites for the past 15 years, including FirstWeFeast.com, Ebony, Jezebel, Upscale, JET, Men's Book, WHERE Magazine and Atlanta Eats TV to name a few. I also specialize in celebrity profiles, lifestyle features, travel destinations, automobiles, dining, product reviews, sports, and numerous other topics. On the beer side, there's this cool site, my own beer show on the Web—Cruisin’ For A Brewsin’—beer events I host, judge various beer contests, and produce art productions throughout Atlanta via my creative agency AllWays Open Creative.